Q is for quests

Quests are as much a part of epic fantasy as prophecies are. It can be a quest to retrieve the one weapon that will destroy the Evil One forever, a quest to return magic to the world, a quest to find why you were spared, or even a quest to destroy an evil artifact.

It’s no mistake that quest looks like question; they come from a common root, the Latin word for “ask, seek.” In both, someone is often seeking knowledge (although some questioners seek only confirmation of what they already know, and some quests seek destruction, this is a general guideline), but while a question is an act of asking, a quest is an act of answering.

I’d have to go with the quest for revenge in ‘A Breach in the Watershed.’ Of all the quests in the Watershed Trilogy (my favorite high fantasy, which is why nothing else even made the cut), it rings truest, I believe.